Bethesda NW leader: Jesus Says God Could be a Woman…

On Mother’s Day in 2019, Bethesda NW, a church closely aligned with Bill Johnson’s Bethel Redding, decided to worship the Mother Goddess instead of God the Father. It was painful proof of the widespread and seductive theology in William Paul Young’s book, The Shack. (https://thewordlikefire.wordpress.com/2019/06/04/mother-goddess-worshiped-at-bethel-redding-sister-church/)

What was the Bethesda NW service like one year later on Mother’s Day 2020?Had Bethesda NW leaders searched the Scriptures and corrected their theology? Unfortunately, in the sermon, leaders Ben and Tisha Straup pretty much doubled down.

Tisha Straup: So, God is not male. He’s male and female. (1 hr.34 minutes in video, give or take)

In order to further this assertion, Tisha Straup spoke about three parables, and gave a meaning to the parable of the woman and the lost coin (Luke 15) that simply does not exist.

Tisha Straup:  Jesus was communicating to the Pharisees that the Trinity, God the Father and the Son, the Shepherd and the Father, and what’s the one in the middle–it’s a parable of a woman with the lost coin, a woman searching for a lost coin.Jesus is not just giving a parable about God and sinners, He’s saying that God could be a woman, that the Holy Spirit, the Mother Heart of God, is searching for the lost coin like the Prodigal Father and the Good Shepherd. This enraged the Pharisees. They were so, they like, who do you, you think you’re like the Son of God and now you can say that God has a female side, that God can be like a woman searching for a lost coin? This was beyond anything they’d ever heard. It enraged them, it made them so angry. (1 hr. and 41 minutes in video,give or take.)

Those who neither fear the Lord nor comprehend His holiness do not hesitate to attack the biblical understanding of God. If it takes some creative “interpretation” of the Scriptures, then so be it. As Israel bowed before the Golden Calf and worshiped it as the Lord their God, (Ex 32:4) so too is a hideous Queen of Heaven being lifted up and celebrated within the visible church.

“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to spite Me.” (Jeremiah7:18)

The Straups are right that that the “true woman’s liberation movement was founded by Jesus.” The Straups are right about some other things as well.But God is neither male nor female. He is immutable.He is not to be shaped and crafted as if He is some malleable deity.

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.(John:4:24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
See All...)

He is never referred to as “she” or “her” in the Bible. He is the Father,and that is how we are to understand Him. The Holy Spirit is also addressed as “he” or “him.” And of course, so is Christ.

Why does this keep happening? Why are so many in the visible church enthralled with The Shack? Is The Shack theology really that seductive?Yes, for many, it is–because this is the time we are in. The Bible tells us:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines o demons, (1 Timothy:4:1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
See All...)

The Shack author William Paul Young has done much damage with his Mother Goddess mythology. But it goes far beyond that. What Young and close ally C. Baxter Kruger are teaching is that creation,man and God are all one. This is the very definition of New Age spirituality.

We noted recently how one pastor was promoting elements of C.Baxter Kruger’s (and therefore Paul Young’s) theology, while another pastor–in the same denomination!–was warning his church against this heretical teaching.  

The pastor who warned the saints wrote, “We have to be close to the return of our Lord. ‘Surely, I come quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.’” (Revelation:22:20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
See All...)

This article is not about Bethesda NW. It is not about The Shack, William Paul Young, or C. Baxter Kruger. It is about the timeline.The apostasy is here. It is a great time to get right with God.

https://thewordlikefire.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/bethesda-nw-jesus-says-god-could-be-a-woman/